During this previous week, First Bank investors lost about N1.79 billion in under five days of trading, coupled with the FCT High Court Enforcement Unit in Abuja, closing down the operation of First Bank over a debt.
The officials besieged the headquarters on Friday to seize properties of the lender. A court official had said: “it is a long story, but it is all about a garnishee order against the bank which it didn’t comply with”.
According to the National News Agency, -NAN, the lender didn’t obey the court order, hence court officials visited First Bank headquarters in Abuja with towing vans to seize properties like stand-by generators and Hilux vans. Air conditioners, amongst other valuables, were likewise carted away from First Bank, to make up for the undisclosed debt, with workers of the commercial bank alluding that the situation was embarrassing.
The FCT High Court Enforcement Unit shutting down the bank’s building based on a garnishee order obtained by a judgment creditor, to whom the commercial bank owes money, caused panic among workers in the firm.
There was also panic on the exchange floor during the week, as a sell-off among stakeholders sent First Bank’s share down by approximately -0.45%, to close Friday’s trading at N10.95kobo, below N11.
This led to investors in the firm losing -0.45% of their investment, which marks a loss of N1.79 billion after five days of trading, knocking down First Bank’s market valuation to N393.05 billion, from N394.8 billion.